Environmental education: Fourth Seychelles Sea Turtle Festival 2016 |10 August 2016

Sea Turtle Life Cycle

Source : seaturtleofinidia.org

 

Myth: There are so many turtles… Turtles are not like pigs… To replace a pig, you need only 9 months… We can have more and more pigs… For a turtle to be replaced, we must wait 50 years… It’s a resource to manage.

‘Turtles need protection from killing and for their nesting habitat’, she said.

Focus on green and hawksbill turtles

In Seychelles, from 1907 to 1968 (61 years), 156,850 green turtles were killed and/or exported. In 88 years, 81,700 hawksbill turtles faced this cruel reality in the same circumstances. They were hunted for their carapace and for food.

But in 1994 the Seychelles government made it illegal to kill, possess or eat turtle meat. Despite this protection, poaching continues to this day and sea turtles now face a number of additional threats, including pollution, entanglement in fishing gear and habitat destruction.

Awards and recognition

AWARDS

ü  Reusable bag prize-giving

There was special mention for two students from Bel Eau and Bel Ombre primary schools. They are Shawn Denis and Tina Micock.

For the other prizes: first prize went to Joy Cupidon, second to May-Ron Marie and third to Manuel Joubert.

ü  Secondary school T-shirt competition winners : produce a design based on Seychelles Sea Turtles for this festival

ü   

1st  Thawein Khan, 2nd  Shakin Loiseau, 3rd Kenttan Derjaque, and

ü  Public photography and artwork competition

A special mention to Montessori school for its effort in submitting such wonderful and numerous entries to the artwork competition.

Under 18 years: The winners are as follows: 1st Anie Constant, 2nd Heidi Orphe, Stacy Anacoura and Vanessa Songoire, 3rd Ashton and Chiara Berry, 4th Dylan Simara

RECOGNITION

The country speaks as one in the interest of turtle conservation

ü   Certificates of recognition (organisations, businesses and government departments) : 

Alphonse Foundation; Banyan Tree Resort; Beachcomber Resort Sainte Anne Island; Bird Island Lodge; Constance Lemuria Resort; Cousine Island; Denis Private Island; Desroches Foundation; Farquhar Foundation; Frégate Island Private; Global Vision International Seychelles; Green islands Foundation; Island Conservation Society; Island Development Company; Marine Conservation Society Seychelles; Ministry of Education: Environmental Education Unit; Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change; Natural History Museum; Nature Seychelles; North Island; Save our Seas Foundation; Seychelles Islands Foundation; Seychelles National Parks Authority; Silhouette Foundation and Turtle Action Group Seychelles.

Thank you for your efforts and commitment to sea turtle conservation.

ü  Sponsors and supporters :

Thank you to all the sponsors and supporters of this year’s festival : Ministry of Tourism and Seychelles Tourism Board, SYAH, Wildlife Clubs Seychelles, WiseOceans, Sustainibility for Seychelles, Mason’s Travel, Cable & Wireless, Dive Seychelles Underwater Centre, Four Seasons Resort, Silhouette Cruises, FBOA, SCAA, Fairy Tern Chalet, L’habitation Cerf Island, Cerf Island Conservation programme, Constance Ephelia Resort Seychelles, Savoy Resort, Red Coral and all who have contributed in one way or another.

ü  ‘Madanm Tortii’ – Dr Jeanne Mortimer

Environment principal secretary Alain De Comarmond presented a token of recognition to Madanm Tortii’ – Dr Jeanne Mortimer for her commitment and many achievements in sea turtle conservation.

“Turtle conservation is a cultural value, an economic benefit and an ecological value. So, we need many turtles for tourism and ecosystem health. Thanks, I was not expecting that! It depends on the entire country! Seychelles deserves an award….,” said Dr Mortimer.

 “Here we go”

The Morning Glory choir from Persévérance primary school performed a special song entitled ‘Here we go’ by Birdsong and the Eco-Wonders.

Congratulations to Seychelles Islands Foundation (SIF) and Aldabra on being chosen as an IOSEA (Indian Ocean – South-East Asian) turtle network site

Frauke Fleischer-Dogley, SIF chief executive, received the certificate of acceptance as part of the network

Alain De Comarmond : Principal Secretary for Environment

What about a Sea Turtle Symposium?

“Raise awareness about sea turtle successes with devotion and commitment. We are here to educate the public, upcoming generation and support all of you in your respective efforts. The future looks right, more and more people are investing in turtle conservation. Now, we need to coordinate our efforts day in and day out.

We have got good examples: our partnership with the veterinary services of Banyan Tree Resort or the MCSS positive recovery of identity, in Eden Island, with improvement about incident. Dr Mortimer and me, we work to reactivate Turtle Active Group Seychelles (TAGS).

What about a sea turtle symposium? We have got support from USA to build something collectively. Reporting incident is a good way of caring of these beautiful creatures. It’s our natural heritage. Internationally, their illegal trade remained a challenge. Seychelles will continue its effort”.

Back to good news in Seychelles…some statistics about our protective area.

Aldabra atoll is a strict reserve since 1968. There were 2,500 turtles. In 2008, the population increased to 15,500. These are great results for 40 years of protection.

Since 1973, in Cousine Island, the turtle population was 75. Thirty five years later, they are 555. So, it has increased by almost 7 times since 2008. It is the same for Aride Island where the turtle population has multiplied by 7 from 1976 to 2008. In fact, they were 8 in 1976 and 55 in 2008.

Today there are almost 20 turtle-monitoring programmes operating in Seychelles ‒ 10 turtle conservation and monitoring projects, 8 projects for outer Islands, 18 projects which conduct track counts, tag and measure turtles, collect scientific data (population, size, migration, site…), involve local community, anti-poaching and protect nesting habitat.